Eyes are on Austin, Texas, tonight as swimmers are gearing up for day 2 finals at the 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series – Austin. Tonight’s session brings the finals of the 400 IM, 200 free, 200 back, and 50 free. Olympic medalist Daiya Seto will take on the 400 IM final tonight after posting a blistering 4:20.0 this morning. U.S. Olympic champ Matt Grevers will be swimming in his first finals race since Olympic Trials in the men’s 50 free. There are several other Olympians to look out for tonight, including Jacob Pebley, Hali Flickinger, Melanie Margalis, Ryan Held, and Amanda Weir.

Follow along with us for live updates on tonight’s events.

WOMEN’S 400 IM

Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey demolished her best time to win the women’s 400 IM. She came into the meet with a personal best of 4:40.00, but lowered it to a 4:37.89 en route to gold. Fellow Canadian Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (4:39.51) was the only other swimmer under 4:40 to give Canada a 1-2 finish. Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem, who also competes for Canada internationally, rounded out the top 3 in 4:44.40.

MEN’S 400 IM

Japan’s Daiya Seto did not disappoint tonight, as he blew away the 400 IM field in a blistering 4:13.80. He was way ahead of the field right off the bat after taking it out in a 56.42 fly split.

The battle for 2nd behind Seto was extremely close between Anton Ipsen, Tristan Cote, and Sean Grieshop. Grieshop held 2nd through the front half of the race, but NC State’s Ipsen made a big push on the breaststroke leg to move ahead. Ipsen wound up 2nd in a quick 4:21.07. NTRO’s Grieshop and Canada’s Cote were neck-and-neck into the wall, but Cote’s 58.91 on the freestyle leg were enough to get him the bronze as he finished .05 ahead of Grieshop (4:21.47).

WOMEN’S 200 FREE

Melanie Margalis was back at it again with the gold medal in tongiht’s 200 free final. She reached into the wall about 4 tenths ahead of UGA teammate Hali Flickinger to secure her 2nd gold and 3rd medal of the meet. Canadian 15-year-old Kayla Sanchez broke 2 minutes for the first time, touching in 1:59.81 for bronze. Before this weekend, Sanchez’s best was a 2:01.25 from 2016 Junior Pan Pacs.

MEN’S 200 FREE

Venezuelan Olympian Marcos Lavado and Japan’s Fuyu Yoshida were stroke-for-stroke into the wall. Yoshida had the edge with his 52.7 split at the 100, but Lavado came back a couple tenths faster to out-touch Yoshida. Lavado wound up with gold in 1:48.90, while Yoshida was less than a tenths back in 1:48.99 for silver. That’s a new personal best time for Lavado, who came into this meet with a 1:49.90 from 2015 Pan Ams.

Yoshida’s Japanese teammates Tsubasa Amai (1:49.40) and Naito Ehara (1:49.50) came in at 3rd and 4th respectively. NC State’s Soeren Dahl also snuck under 1:50, taking 5th with a 1:49.92.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK

Canadian Olympic medalist Hillary Caldwell (2:09.76) popped an in-season 2:09 to win the 200 back, outpacing USA Junior National Teamer Eva Merrell on the back half. Merrell wound up with silver in 2:10.22, while Mackenzie Glover rounded out the top 3 in 2:11.18. Fellow USA Junior National Teamer Lucie Nordmann was just off the podium with a 2:12.52 for 4th.

MEN’S 200 BACK

Cal’s Jacob Pebley threw down a 1:55.95 to dominate the 200 back final, taking it out in 56.22 and extending his lead on the 2nd 100 with a 59.33 to bring home the gold. Sean Lehane and Hennessey Stuart raced into the finish, with Lehane just out-touching Stuart in 2:00.33 to Stuart’s 2:00.47.

CUDA’s 14-year-old Harrison Lierz finished 7th in 2:04.47, making him the 6th fastest 13-14 swimmer of all time.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE

Michelle Williams, 25.16

Ky-Lee Perry, 25.51

Natalie Labonge, 25.64

Michelle Williams gave the Canadian women their 3rd gold of the 4 total events tonight after winning the 50 free in 25.16. NC State teammates Ky-Lee Perry (25.51) and Natalie Labonge (25.64) each earned a podium spot with a pair of 25-mids.

Finishing just a hundredth off the podium was Beryl Gastaldello (25.65), followed by U.S. Olympian Amanda Weir (25.74).

MEN’S 50 FREE

Japan’s Shinri Shioura is 2-for-2 in the sprints after posting a 22.44 to touch out Canada’s Yuri Kisil (22.46) for 50 free gold. Team USA’s Michael Andrew, who swam a personal best in the B-final of the 400 IM, took 3rd in this event with a 22.65.

U.S. Olympians Matt Grevers (22.66) and Ryan Held (22.69) were just hundredths shy of a podium finish, taking 4th and 5th respectively.

That’s a 12-second drop of time for him after prelims and finals. 4.26.24 is not amazing for a 17-year-old boy but considering he rarely swims that event that’s decent, yes. He suffered a lot in the freestyle part as expected but at least his finishing time was 0.12s faster than Hosszu’s world record in Rio.
More seriously he works his endurance and it can pay off in the 200 IM, the IM event he really targets for the future in long course in my opinion. A very open event in USA now.

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2 years ago

GOUSA

Eva Merrell is on the National Team. Go USA!

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2 years ago

bobo gigi

6 events out of 8 won by “foreign” swimmers. Not surprising considering that 90% of best US swimmers are not in Austin this week. I continue to be impressed by young Canadian girls. After Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Rebecca Smith or Kayla Sanchez, here comes Mary-Sophie Harvey in the 400 IM. She’s a very good freestyler too. Amazing Canadian women’s team under construction. Eva Merrell very consistent now around 2.10 in the 200 back. Very promising for the summer. Very good performance by 14-year-old Harrison Lierz in the men’s 200 back in 2.04. 6th fastest 13/14 US boy ever in the event. And by far the best performance of the day by Jacob Pebley in 1.55.95 in the 200 back.… Read more »

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2 years ago

big calves

Yeah, 1:55 is completely insane. Almost as insane as the Canadian women. Wow!!!

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2 years ago

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona and the University of Florida. She got her M.S. in Criminology from Florida State and seems exceptionally confused about which team she should cheer for during the college football season. Lauren is currently a coach at Loggerhead Aquatics …